Magic Marmalade 9th Aug 2021
| | Rated 8/10Another one flew over the cuckoo's nest...
...But the premise of being an otherwise sane person in a psychiatric institution among people who are not is where the similarity ends.
.....Well, other than it becomes difficult to tell the difference between sane and insane, which is a device well utilised here.
This is basically your standard nightmare scenario:
You're suffering somewhat, so seek counselling, and they say: "Sign here" and admit you to an institution for what you think is a day or so, not realising that the term of the contract you've signed is at least a week, and everyone thinks you're nuts... And of course, the more you protest, and the more strenuously you do so, the more nuts you seem.
In this case, Sawyer is suffering from paranoia due to an experience with a stalker, and when she sees his presence everywhere, decides to get help, but ends up getting "committed".
Obviously, this examines the idea that many women face of not being believed when they assert that they are being, or have been victimised, stalked... or worse.
Indeed, she is convinced her stalker is one of the staff in the institution, with whom, and under who's power, she now finds herself.
...Is she right, or is she genuinely paranoid, and suffering from mental health issues?
This ambiguity is maintained for just long enough, before taking a few twisty turns, such as is her institutionalisation been part of a conspiracy among health care and insurance companies... a scam, of sorts... Or is that part of her delusion too?
Queue the "Kafka-esque" oppressive nightmare situation label.
This is brilliantly conveyed by virtue of being shot (I think) on VHS tape, with that over-saturated look, and in a standard aspect ratio (There's bars down the sides of the screen), with very carefully crafted shots from strange angles, showing strange, or slightly "off" and unsettling scenes that would otherwise look crushingly normal... And almost fish-eye lens shots on occasions.
...But it's more than that, as you get the impression this is a bit of a pet project, or labour of love for Steven Soderbergh, as there are a dozen or more influences you can readily pick out, and which have been chucked in a bag, given a shake, and created this...
...Such as the look, and feel of the movie being very reminiscent of George A. Romero's seventies / eighties Day Of The Dead films, and there's more than a hint of Silence Of the Lambs, Michael Mann's Manhunter, a good helping of John Carpenter / Halloween vibe, and done in a kind of hand-held camera, Blair Witch way, with a seventies style title and end credit shot.
Not overly long, and an hour and a half, but uses the time well, being constantly tense, suspenseful and claustrophobic, and keeps kicking into different gears as it thickens it's plot at certain intervals.
Occasional gore, and violence, some pretty grim (Would make a nice double header with: Joker!).
Claire Foy carries the film, brilliantly conveying her character's turmoil through the ordeal, and the rest of the cast are great too.
If you are a fan of those seventies and eighties thriller / horror nuggets, you'll love this, as it has one of those cult classic, shown in the dead of night gems feel about it, which I don't think the poster or cover of the DVD does justice to...
(Actually, I think it's a case of mis-selling, as that poster art makes it look like a slicker, bigger budget affair / vehicle for upcoming starlet, which this isn't).
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